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In a nearly deserted mall
Wearing a double mask and face shield This
has become a regular scene in the Metro malls.
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It is almost a year since the pandemic started it's unrelenting presence here in Manila - forcing lockdowns and freezing a lot of service-oriented businesses (including Corporate training, which just happened to be my bread and butter), and boy... was I affected. Form an average of three to four days of training per month - which was relatively slow, to being lucky to have a day a quarter - you can say that my capacity to earn has been literally wiped out.
Lucky for me, the rest of the family has work, and they were working at home. So some other people picked up the slack. Thus our family was lucky. We got to stay at home - we got to continue eating our meals, enjoying our small comforts, and we did not get into any heavy crisis... unlike some people we know. Aside from that effect of lockdown, we were basically spared any COVID-related problems.
We were all affected by the start of the lockdown... you see, this time last year, there was little we knew of the virus... and had a lot of trepidation. Whenever I had to go out to but our weekly groceries, I had to wear a mask, goggles, long sleeved shirts, and gloves. I had to be sprayed with disinfectant whenever I arrived home, and likewise sprayed disinfectant in the car. Form there, without touching anyone, I would go straight to a running shower - place my clothes in the prepared laundry pail filled with water and soap, and not dare touch anyone until I spent some time showering and making sure I scrubbed myself well. Were we too careful? Too worried? No... I think we did right. Until we learned more of this virus, I had to be extra careful whenever I went out - and as it was, we made sure I limited my going out to once a week - if I could help it... every other week.
Groceries were limited too - as the supply chains for delivering goods, and food were likewise affected. Meanwhile, the Internet became our only means of communication and collaboration to the outside world. We were lucky to make sure we switched our service provider to a higher, faster provider (Converge Fiber Optics). I can't recall how many people were affected by poor internet services. Zoom, Teams and other apps that allowed people to make videoconferences almost a daily thing, became the new norm. Cell phones also became essential. Email was already in place, anyway - but for others who were not too used to these technological tools, it was a steep learning curve timeframe - again, lucky us, we were already used to doing virtual communication and collaboration - not just in the new frequency of use, though.
Meanwhile, we were monitoring the news... and the news was indeed bleak. Many people started getting affected - and the fact that others who were asymptomatic, yet possible super spreaders made monitoring the spread near impossible - our government was caught flat-footed because our President did not understand what we were up against... and the fact that the spread originated from China... let's just say he became too lenient with border closure - and by the time we learned more, even then... he did not want to close borders and displease China. Thus we get the brunt of the virus spread. They were forced to do the hard lockdown on the 15th of March - a move I felt was weeks, maybe even a month too late.
Anyway, by June we were beginning to realize that the lockdown had another victim... the economy. I naively thought this would be licked after a few months - well, those few months turned to more months... and the race to getting a vaccine was moving fast - but for many, not fast enough. This was the scary part. We could see people getting tired, or uncaring for the safety protocols - and why should they? People who had to work daily - in a hand-to-mouth existence... they could not afford not to work... and they lived in squalor - where Social Distancing was simply impossible to implement. So, this problem was going to drag on, simply because people could not think of the greater good. How could they? Survival was at stake.
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Zoom meetings, like this, have become the norm
for school, work, and socializing
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Thankfully, we did not have riots, or zombie apocalypse type problems - the police and military did their job in keeping the peace - and even if we listened to people complaining and warning us that the government was becoming too authoritarian - I understood that this was an emergency situation... we needed to cooperate, or we'd all be toast. The government - both national, and local, came up with help packages... distributing food, keeping the lockdown and enforcing curfews. Everyone was told to stay home, and only one person per household was issued a pass to go out for purposes of buying essentials - that was me in my family.
Because of this, I witnessed long lines when going to groceries, or drugstores - had to contend with a lack of certain goods, products we always took for granted to be available. Malls - those that allowed people to come in, were basically ghost-like abandoned; eerily empty. I was thankful that the places I went to enforced social distancing... and suddenly, long lines in the entrance and check out lanes - well, we didn't complain... we were glad these places were open and offering food and other produce.
It even reached a time when the groceries announced that they were running out of cash to dispense (banks were not fully functional either), and requested we all used online payment - again, it was what I was doing anyway... but I also needed to make sure we had some cash at home. You see, this was where we started seeing the proliferation of people offering home-made products, dishes they decided to make and sell... all to make sure they had some way to earn in the lockdown. And even that was difficult because certain towns did not allow delivery vans to pass through their roads - stupidity coupled by being too panicky. These local officials were thinking of themselves, and not the big picture. The national government had to step in in some cases - to knock some sense into these unthinking politicos. Amazing how stupid appears in the worst of times.
There were also news of local politicians keeping those funds or goods instead of spreading the help to the people in need... I hope those A-holes got caught. Taking advantage of others in a pandemic... that has to be the worst kind of behavior. And yet, many people were doing it. Hope Karma makes them accountable in life, if no justice got dispensed.
Thing is, I had to compartmentalize these things. I knew that focusing on too much bad news was also bad for our psychological well-being. So we learned to have small celebrations. Simple birthday celebrations - family dinners... and whenever we could buy certain fun items like chocolates, or ice cream... any way to put some joy into our lives... to counter this overly negative environment.
There were things that many people could not do... no work, no pay. No pay, no way to settle bills. That was the problem - and even if there was a directive for many not to ask for payment of bills - those bills just got bigger and bigger - while the capacity to earn did not. I have to honestly say that I was affected in that manner as well. Having to choose which to pay and which to suspend isn't a great feeling. I stretched as much as I could, and forgot about any chance to spend on anything for Christmas.
Somewhere along the way, government finally had to relent to the economic managers - the economy had to be restarted - even if it meant the possibility of the virus spreading once again - because honestly, after months of staying in lockdown, the government still did not have any concrete manner of monitoring the spread of - let alone, any manner of controlling said virus spread. And now they were being forced to open the economy. Meanwhile, one point of measure that I was morbidly monitoring was the capacity of all the COVID centers, and hospitals to accept new patients. After all, that would tell us if there was still a fighting chance against the virus, and what exactly was said fighting chance. Was the success in the battle to get people well from COVID getting better?
Were there less people dying? Nope. Unfortunately, we were not there yet. Statistics were still rising, and we simply seemed to adapt a devil may care attitude... save the tanking economy, wile just letting the virus spread faster. Finally, there came a time when the Medical front-liners had to pleaded for the government to roll back to a tighter lockdown, even if for just a month - because they (the front-liners) were getting overwhelmed - they were getting exhausted, and morale was really low... specially since they knew some of their colleagues got infected - and others did not make it back. Government reluctantly, and sourly, complied.
As it was getting certain that Christmas was coming and this virus would not allow people to have their usual reunions, we played Christmas tunes, stayed home, did Zoom calls to relatives - and government, upon seeing some improvement to the numbers - after enforcing the need to use face shields outside (aside from the masks and social distancing and other protocols) allowed for a more relaxed border control - people could now travel on the road. Some hotels were allowed to open, so long as they practiced safety protocols.
Instead of just one person, we could now travel as a family - go to groceries and eat out. I also got to visit my sisters in Batangas after nearly 10 months - missing a few birthdays in between - and still mindful of social distancing. But at least we were getting back into a semblance of normalcy. I got to conduct two online classes some time September - but those were still far from my usual trainings, and the payments I got were mere pocket change - net even enough to pay bills. But I looked at it as a proof of concept - that I could do virtual trainings. But would my clients be ready? Unfortunately, it seemed 'not yet'.
Many companies were cutting costs - some even cutting their workforce, after months of not having any operations - or working on a much reduced sales targets. Unless you dealt with health essentials. or COIVD vaccines or preventions... you'd be a 'nice to have', only after essentials were cared for, would they even bother considering other products / services. Even supposed passive incomes were affected. Heck, petroleum products took a beating. After all, lockdowns meant no one needed to buy gas - no one was traveling. Only power and energy businesses was buying for their equipment. The world saw record low gasoline prices - yet we could not enjoy them because a full talk of gas now lasted months instead of just half a week. Heck, at times, it lasted a quarter. We just weren't going around.
But as December approached, we tried to revive the spirit of the holidays by decorating our home - but not bothering to go out and see the sights - we only enjoyed what we saw in the malls we'd normally visit. Spending the holidays with family was still out of the question. With the possibility that too many people could be roaming around, we opted to stay away - so we could enjoy each other's company come next year.... when the populace finally had vaccines.
So yeah... 202 was bleak - and we were now going to look forward to 2021 with newfound hope. News of vaccine rollout in the UK... and later the US looked promising - even if we knew that we would probably locally get these sometime mid-2021, or even in quarter three... it was still good news. Meanwhile, we continue to do what has become routine - wash hands a lot, or use alcohol, don't touch the face often - specially the eye-rubs. Wear a face shield to shield you from doing that. But additionally, wear face masks (I don't believe even that - and the lockdown, became a political issue in the U.S.), Social distance from strangers - or people not part of your nuclear family (who don't live with you 24/7). After all, people can see the light at the end of this pandemic tunnel - others might get the vaccine sooner... some later. But the last thing we need is to suddenly relax and become complacent.
Even people who get the vaccine can't be careless - efficacy only kicks in two weeks after the 2nd dose. and the time difference between the first and second dose is almost a month's wait. So some might get impatient - and get careless. Let's hope not.
Meanwhile, another problem occurred - despite hotels practicing safety protocols, certain individuals tried circumventing such protocols - set to keep everyone safe, so they could selfishly enjoy resort vacationing, and in the process, infecting people who are trying so hard to stay safe, because their work depends on it. These A-holes are just as bad as those profiteers in a pandemic. They might not think so, but it stems from the same thing - being selfish... thinking only of themselves - and causing others undeserved anxiety, and really... potential loss of life.
They got caught, thanks to the proper implementation of said safety protocols, by making sure there were verifiable means to possibly fake documents - and I hope these stupid selfish dopes do get prosecuted by the law, and persecuted in social media. They have to learn their lesson the hard way.
On a personal note, I felt a bit of anxiety some time May of last year... I did not notice it at first, but my body clock was getting out of synch - and I was more awake at night and just trying to sleep the day away by day. I just wanted the days to slip by. But again, my support system - my family was present. We kept each other grounded. And I looked for things to keep me busy - everyone else had some form of routine. Work hours... work activities... work responsibilities. Me? I had Netflix and a whole slew of K-flicks and series. On the positive side, I got to find a few long forgotten TV series too. Getting reacquainted with cartoons I've not seen in, maybe, decades. And at least, I had my once a week (usually weekend) grocery trips to look forward to in those early lockdown days.
Funny things? I had a ton of reading materials - and yet, I forgot to read many of them. Oh I read at least three novels that I made sure I could follow. But some old classics? Well, I hope to finally get around to reading them. Another funny thing? I rarely bought a comic in 2020 - a far cry from an issue (or. handful) a week. I guess, I lost interest... and yeah, kinda lost interest in the K-drama scenes too. Netflix has still a lot to offer - I'm just tired of watching... if you can believe that.
Heck, I guess I was kind of glad my laptop's HD crashed - and I had to recover files, it gave me something to do. In fact, I'm still in the process of re-cataloguing the files. On weekends (except when it might be a holiday, like the just past Valentine's weekend) we'd go out and have a family meal - just to get rid of the monotony - but this weekend, we just ate at home to avoid a possible Valentine crowd. Again, funny, right?
Here's hoping we finally get to kick COVID and return to a more relaxed, and less anxious manner of normalcy. We wrote off 2020 -FTS. Hope 2021 is a much better year. If this reads like I was rambling, well yes I was. I was not prepared to go in a chronological manner - and whatever I could remember, I would jot down. I'm sure I missed something, but hey... that's the reason there's an edit option to these. But I might not bother reshaping the paragraphs... maybe I'll just place addendums when the need arises. I just wanted to give a glimpse of life in the lousiest year in our collective lifetime - the year of COVID, 2020.
China really has to answer for this - they just can't brush it off as 'we were a victim too'. Had they been more open, more forthcoming with the data - had they not suppressed findings, out of embarrassment, or xenophobia, the world might have prepared better for this virus... and there could have been less deaths, and less economic losses. Yeah... if there has been a global realization, it's that we're collectively still a far way from maturity.
Maybe that's why the aliens still have not shown themselves to us.
Yes, this is just a few days since I composed and posted the above... I had to add this as I observed apparently more than I mentioned. Yes,people started playing around with JMC memes, just as I thought so... heck, I myself, playfully posted two as a sort of countdown - but not added to it since September started.
